


A Patchy Smile

by hungrybookworm



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Cooking, F/F, Fluff, More Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 11:30:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4958932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hungrybookworm/pseuds/hungrybookworm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Patchouli's been down in the dumps recently, so Meiling decides to help make her smile again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Patchy Smile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [UnmovingGreatLibrary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnmovingGreatLibrary/gifts).



> Touhou Project (c) ZUN/Team Shanghai Alice

“Here’s your tea, Patchouli-sama!” Meiling held the teacup with a huge smile on her face. “Careful, it’s still hot.”

Patchouli grunted, and didn’t look up from her book. 

Meiling placed the cup on the desk, and peered at the page. “What are you reading?”

“Nothing of importance.” There was a deep frown on Patchouli’s forehead, and she was twirling a well-chewed lock of hair around a finger. “Just research.”

“Is it going badly?” Meiling hadn’t seen her look so glum before.

“It’s going fine.” Patchouli glared, grabbed the cup, and took a sip. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be guarding the gate?”

“I’m on my break, remember?” Meiling usually brought people tea around lunchtime. Sakuya had her hands full in the kitchen, and there were never any intruders at this time of night. “Anything I can help with?”

“No.” Patchouli looked at the book with a sigh. “Please leave me alone, I need to concentrate.”

This wasn’t like Patchouli. Usually she’d dive into a long rant about that magician stealing books from the library again, or how Koakuma misplaced a really important grimoire earlier. Meiling left the library deep in thought. When was the last time she’d seen Patchouli smile? She couldn’t remember.

She went back to the kitchen, and asked Sakuya.

“Hm, I can’t remember either,” she said, stirring a huge pot full of suspicious red liquid. “I think it might have been when we all visited the moon?”

Meiling nodded, and decided she was going to make Patchouli smile again.

*****  
Meiling’s first idea was to give Patchouli things she liked herself. It worked for her, so maybe it would work for Patchouli too! She clearly enjoyed books, so the next morning, Meiling walked into the library with five of her favourite tengu comic books.

Patchouli frowned as she flicked through the first one. “What’s this for?”

“I thought you might enjoy it!”

Patchouli had read them all by the next day, and didn’t seem any happier. “I could predict the plot a mile away,” she grumbled, “and the characters kept saying the same thing.”

Next, Meiling tried giving her something tasty to eat. Everyone loved food, and she was sure Patchouli was no exception. Using Sakuya’s stash of cakes and sweets seemed like cheating somehow, so she spent one of her few days off cooking biscuits.

“Sakuya’s lost her touch,” commented Patchouli after biting into one.

Copying Sakuya was a bad idea after all. Meiling decided to go with a more home grown approach. She raided the mansion larder, and made some Chinese almond biscuits instead.

“Not bad I suppose,” said Patchouli. “Are they supposed to look like charcoal?”

*****  
“This is hard,” moaned Meiling, back at her usual post outside the gate. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Well, maybe she’s already happy,” said Sakuya, standing opposite her.

“No, I can tell. She’s definitely not happy.”

“Then maybe you should ask why she’s unhappy? Then you can work out what to do from there.”

Meiling thought over what Patchouli said a few days ago. She seemed troubled over her research, but said it was ‘fine’ when Meiling asked.

Maybe it wasn’t fine after all.

“I’ll help her with her research!” she declared. “Then she’ll smile!”

*****  
The next day, Meiling went down to the library with a knowing grin on her face. Patchouli was slumped in her chair, a large pile of grimoires on her desk. She looked exhausted.

“Here’s your tea,” said Meiling, presenting the usual teacup. “How’s the research going?”

“Fine.” Patchouli didn’t look up.

“Really? Are you sure it’s going fine?”

“Absolutely.” Her voice lacked conviction. Patchouli just sounded tired. “I’m not an amateur.”

“Well, I’ve got some good news for you! I know a really good trick to make your research go even better!” And before Patchouli could protest, Meiling grabbed her by the shoulders, and pulled her out of her chair. “Come on, we’re going outside.”

“Wait,” she attempted to struggle. “I’m busy!”

But Meiling marched her out of the library, and into the evening light. A beautiful sunset filled up the sky, and a gentle breeze blew across the garden. A warm summer twilight.

“It’ll only take fifteen minutes.” Meiling gestured to the two chairs she’d placed in the garden earlier. “Sit down. I’m going to teach you how to meditate.”

Patchouli looked appalled. “Meditate?”

“Yes, once you meditate, your research will go even better. Promise!” Meiling sat down. “It won’t take long, really!”

Patchouli looked at the chair skeptically. Then she sighed, and sat down. “All right. Since it won’t take long.”

“Great! It’s easy. Get comfy. Then close your eyes. Yes, like that. Now let’s start with breathing. Empty your mind, and breath in...” Meiling closed her eyes too, and took a deep breath. “Breath in, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four. And out, two, three, four. Now again. Breath in…”

They repeated the exercise three or four times. Patchouli did as she was told, and tried to clear her mind. Her research really had been going badly, and her stress levels had shot up over the last few weeks. Meiling was right, meditating _was_ pretty calming, once Patchouli let herself do it. She could feel her worries melting away.

Then she heard a snort. Patchouli opened one eye, and saw Meiling’s head drooping forward. The meditation had been too relaxing, and she’d sent herself to sleep.

She looked adorable. Patchouli couldn’t help it. She covered her mouth, and a wonderful smile spread across her face.

**Author's Note:**

> 1) This fic was written for RabbitEclair/UnmovingGreatLibrary's birthday! Happy birthday! May you write 300k+ words of gay touhous this year too.
> 
> 2) After all the misery and suffering in the last few fics, I finally wrote some fluff. I've been working on a novel length DDC retelling recently, which is why I've been a bit less active. I'm hoping to post it sometime this winter, so look forward to it!


End file.
